F1 French GP: Bottas fastest from Hamilton and Verstappen in FP1
Valtteri Bottas set the fastest time in opening practice for Formula 1’s 2021 French Grand Prix in a Mercedes 1-2 ahead of Lewis Hamilton, with Red Bull’s Max Verstappen third.


Baku winner Sergio Perez finished the one-hour session in fourth, as F1’s leading two teams swept the top positions from the off at Paul Ricard.
Sebastian Vettel led the field out of the pits when the session got underway, his Aston Martin fitted with a pair of tall, triangular-shaped aero rakes, before Alfa Romeo’s Antonio Giovinazzi established the initial P1 benchmark at 1m38.487s as most of the drivers lapped on the hard tyres in the early stages.
Pierre Gasly, Charles Leclerc – who was running the mediums – Sergio Perez and Carlos Sainz Jr each improved the fastest time with their opening flying laps at the end of the first five minutes, with Sainz bringing it to a 1m36.749s.
Verstappen then moved to the top spot for the first time with a 1m35.639s, which stood as the best time until the end of the opening 10 minutes, when Lando Norris set a 1m35.461s.
Following in the McLaren’s wake, Sainz then moved back to first place with a 1m35.342s, but Verstappen then completed a 1m34.139s, which stood as the fastest time on the hard tyres.
Approaching the halfway mark, the Mercedes drivers emerged on the soft tyres to complete the opening performance runs of the event, with Hamilton taking over in first place with a 1m33.783s.
Verstappen’s opening flying lap on the red-walled rubber was 0.097s slower than Hamilton, who was soon usurped by Bottas – who had run over the large kerbs on the exit of the Turn 2 fast right in the early stages and damaged his front wing.

Max Verstappen, Red Bull Racing RB16B
Photo by: Charles Coates / Motorsport Images
After spending some time in the garage as Mercedes assessed the damage – which it estimated was worth “tens of thousands of pounds” when team sporting director Ron Meadows complained to race director Michael Masi regarding the kerbs’ placement – Bottas had slotted in just behind Verstappen at the end of the hard tyre running.
His 1m33.488s opening flying lap on the softs put him 0.335s clear of Hamilton and stood as the fastest time until the end of the session.
Verstappen ended up 0.432s behind Bottas, with Perez 0.745s adrift on his best soft tyre lap.
Red Bull brought Verstappen in to make a few adjustments after his opening soft-shod run, and he then nearly matched his time in the first sector – which stood to the session’s end – before he went quickest of all the middle sector.
But running wide over the kerbs exiting the Turn 11, a long fast right corner, meant Verstappen ended up abandoning that lap, with the Dutchman suspecting he may have picked up floor damage.
Esteban Ocon jumped up to fifth with a late lap on the softs, to finish ahead of McLaren’s Daniel Ricciardo and Fernando Alonso in the second Alpine.
Gasly ended up eighth ahead of Norris, with Yuki Tsunoda rounding out the top 10.
Several drivers mirrored Bottas in running heavily over the Turn 2 exit kerbs – including Kimi Raikkonen (P13) and Gasly – while three of the field spun off.
Mick Schumacher, who ended up 19th in the final FP1 standings, spun approaching Turn 3 on his outlap on the hards at the beginning of the session, clipping the wall with his right front after spearing off left when he hit the brakes approaching the turn.
The Haas driver was able to recover to the pits, which Vettel also managed to do after he had a high-speed spin turning into Turn 11.

Sebastian Vettel, Aston Martin AMR21, Esteban Ocon, Alpine A521
Photo by: Mark Sutton / Motorsport Images
The Aston’s rear swung around on Vettel as he turned right for the first part of the corner, which sent him off backwards over the striped runoff area and he hit the tyre barrier with his rear wing.
Although it was a sizeable impact, Vettel was able to drive away and eventually returned to the track for the session’s later running, ultimately finishing 15th, one spot behind team-mate Lance Stroll.
Sainz was the other spinner, losing his Ferrari’s rear after clipping the apex at Turn 2 hard and going off backwards into the runoff, ruining his first set of softs, just after the Spaniard had moved to start his initial performance running on that compound.
The Ferrari drivers ended up P11 and P16 in the final order, with Leclerc leading the way.
Roy Nissany, running in place of George Russell at Williams for FP1, brought up the rear of the field.
F1 French GP - Free Practice 1 results
Cla | Driver | Chassis | Laps | Time | Gap |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
1 | |
Mercedes | 24 | 1'33.448 | |
2 | |
Mercedes | 21 | 1'33.783 | 0.335 |
3 | |
Red Bull | 23 | 1'33.880 | 0.432 |
4 | |
Red Bull | 25 | 1'34.193 | 0.745 |
5 | |
Alpine | 25 | 1'34.329 | 0.881 |
6 | |
McLaren | 24 | 1'34.644 | 1.196 |
7 | |
Alpine | 21 | 1'34.693 | 1.245 |
8 | |
AlphaTauri | 20 | 1'34.699 | 1.251 |
9 | |
McLaren | 21 | 1'34.707 | 1.259 |
10 | |
AlphaTauri | 22 | 1'34.847 | 1.399 |
11 | |
Ferrari | 24 | 1'34.950 | 1.502 |
12 | |
Alfa Romeo | 23 | 1'35.116 | 1.668 |
13 | |
Alfa Romeo | 20 | 1'35.135 | 1.687 |
14 | |
Aston Martin | 23 | 1'35.275 | 1.827 |
15 | |
Aston Martin | 16 | 1'35.289 | 1.841 |
16 | |
Ferrari | 24 | 1'35.342 | 1.894 |
17 | |
Williams | 22 | 1'35.612 | 2.164 |
18 | |
Haas | 24 | 1'36.651 | 3.203 |
19 | |
Haas | 14 | 1'37.329 | 3.881 |
20 | |
Williams | 16 | 1'37.881 | 4.433 |
View full results |
Related video

McLaren backs Pirelli's "safe product", but wants F1 tyre failure clarity
Have F1 drivers lost faith in Pirelli after Baku failures?

Latest news
FIA finalises 2026 Formula 1 power unit regulations
The FIA has finally approved the wording of the 2026 Formula 1 power unit regulations, which in turn paves the way for Porsche to enter in partnership with Red Bull.
F1 porpoising and roll hoop rules changes ratified by FIA
The FIA’s World Motor Sport Council has approved changes to the floor regulations in Formula 1 for 2023 to prevent the porpoising phenomenon seen this year.
Why Mercedes steered clear of an F1 car concept revamp despite early struggles
Mercedes opted against revamping its Formula 1 car concept despite its early struggles in 2022 as it felt following other designs would "only get you so far."
How one of F1’s greatest names was revived
With its eponymous Formula 1 team falling into obscurity in the 90s, the Brabham name looked relegated to the manufacturers' history books. But after a long legal battle, the family reclaimed its rights and in 2018 launched Brabham Automotive. David Brabham discusses what came next for the iconic brand
How a bad car creates the ultimate engineering challenge
While creating a car that is woefully off the pace is a nightmare scenario for any team, it inadvertently generates the test any engineering department would relish: to turn it into a winner. As Mercedes takes on that challenge in Formula 1 this season, McLaren’s former head of vehicle engineering reveals how the team pulled of the feat in 2009 with Lewis Hamilton
The under-fire F1 driver fighting for his future
Personable, articulate and devoid of the usual racing driver airs and graces, Nicholas Latifi is the last Formula 1 driver you’d expect to receive death threats, but such was the toxic legacy of his part in last year’s explosive season finale. And now, as ALEX KALINAUCKAS explains, he faces a battle to keep his place on the F1 grid…
The strange tyre travails faced by F1’s past heroes
Modern grand prix drivers like to think the tyres they work with are unusually difficult and temperamental. But, says MAURICE HAMILTON, their predecessors faced many of the same challenges – and some even stranger…
The returning fan car revolution that could suit F1
Gordon Murray's Brabham BT46B 'fan car' was Formula 1 engineering at perhaps its most outlandish. Now fan technology has been successfully utilised on the McMurtry Speirling at the Goodwood Festival of Speed, could it be adopted by grand prix racing once again?
Hamilton's first experience of turning silver into gold
The seven-time Formula 1 world champion has been lumbered with a duff car before the 2022 Mercedes. Back in 2009, McLaren’s alchemists transformed the disastrous MP4-24 into a winning car with Lewis Hamilton at the wheel. And now it’s happening again at his current team, but can the rate of progress be matched this year?
Why few could blame Leclerc for following the example of Hamilton’s exit bombshell
OPINION: Ferrari's numerous strategy blunders, as well as some of his own mistakes, have cost Charles Leclerc dearly in the 2022 Formula 1 title battle in the first half of the season. Though he is locked into a deal with Ferrari, few could blame Leclerc if he ultimately wanted to look elsewhere - just as Lewis Hamilton did with McLaren 10 years prior
The other McLaren exile hoping to follow Perez's path to a top F1 seat
After being ditched by McLaren earlier in his F1 career Sergio Perez fought his way back into a seat with a leading team. BEN EDWARDS thinks the same could be happening to another member of the current grid
How studying Schumacher helped make Coulthard a McLaren F1 mainstay
Winner of 13 grands prix including Monaco and survivor of a life-changing plane crash, David Coulthard could be forgiven for having eased into a quiet retirement – but, as MARK GALLAGHER explains, in fact he’s busier than ever, running an award-winning media company and championing diversity in motor racing. Not bad for someone who, by his own admission, wasn’t quite the fastest driver of his generation…